Rebooting Social Europe. Some proposals to improve the social dimension. Brussels, 1 April

Briefing: In a little more than two months, European citizens will elect a new European Parliament which will codetermine the direction which Social Europe will take in the years to come. The French Economic Observatory (OFCE) and the ETUI are co-organizing this lunch debate in order to put forward some ideas on how to deal with key issues such as the convergence (or lack thereof) of labour markets in Europe, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe and the promotion of gender equality in the professions which are driving the debate at European level. The speakers will contribute to the current debate by examining the different paths that can be taken in order to improve the European project, what concrete steps need to be taken and what compromises will have to be reached in order to converge our economies towards a social and prosperous Europe.

Contributions:

The European social dimension in perspective, Maria Jepsen, ETUI

The European labour market(s), Éric Heyer, OFCE

Nominal convergence and divergence in the CEECs, Sandrine Levasseur, OFCE

Is the European Union's strategy to promote professional equality effective? Hélène Périvier, OFCEComments: Jeroen Jutte, Head of Unit at the European Commission TBC and Ben Egan, Advisor ETUC